Physician and medical educator.  Born July 8, 1892 in Chester, Connecticut, Atchley was educated at the University of Chicago (B.S., 1911) and Johns Hopkins University (M.D., 1915).  After an internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he joined the faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and the attending staff of its main clinical partner, Presbyterian Hospital.  Atchley remained at what was later known as the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center for the rest of his career, becoming professor of clinical medicine in 1942 and professor emeritus in 1958.

Though he did important work on the relation of electrolyte balance to disease, especially as it relates to diabetes, Atchley was best known as a legendary teacher and a wise and compassionate physician.  When the Medical Center’s private practice office building was completed in 1969, it was named the Dana W. Atchley Pavilion (it was later renamed the Herbert Irving Pavilion in recognition of a generous Medical Center donor).  He received the Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians in 1969.

Atchley continued to teach at Columbia after his retirement and practiced medicine until he was 84.  He died June 26, 1982 at Englewood, New Jersey.